A weather report made from the flight deck of an aircraft in flight is a timely and accurate way to provide weather data, including actual icing and turbulence conditions for a particular flight. One such weather report is a pilot report (PIREP), which is a report of actual weather conditions encountered by an aircraft during flight. PIREPs from a particular flight are generally provided to the nearest ground station, via radio and/or electronic submission, and then relayed to other weather offices and air traffic service units. Flight crew members record weather condition observations, using PIREPs, which are then used to assist other flight crews with flight planning and preparation.
Flight crew members are advised to update one or more PIREPs each time there is a condition change affecting safe flight. Conditions may change often, resulting in an increased workload for the flight crew. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide automatic PIREP information without substantially increasing flight crew member workload. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.